The future of figure skating, right here in the Bay Area

What do Peggy Fleming, Brian Boitano and Kristi Yamaguchi all have in common? In addition to their Olympic gold medals, they all hail from the Bay Area. While not the natural climate one would consider a place for breeding world class figure skaters, there are some incredible skaters and coaches here – and it’s only getting better. This week, we have a real treat: the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, aka “nationals” are taking place in San Jose at the HP Pavilion. As a former competitive skater, I look forward each year to this event, whether in person or on TV. It’s our chance to see the best new skaters in the country. Among the competitors this year are fifteen young skaters who train in the Bay Area. Two local tweens have already claimed gold medals in their events.

Karen Chen, 2012 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Karen Chen, age twelve, from Fremont, and Vincent Chou, eleven, of San Jose, took first place in Novice Ladies and Novice Men, respectively. (For those not too familiar with figure skating, that’s just two levels below the Senior level that competes for spots on the World and Olympic teams.) Chen, a small, fast skater has the whole package: jumps, spin and artistry. Zhou’s impressive triples were almost amazing to behold, given his age. Both skaters competed in regional and sectional competitions, placing first in order to earn spots to nationals. They will be highlighted in the exhibition of champions on Sunday in San Jose. Other local skaters to watch include Kevin Shum of Piedmont. He placed fourth in the Novice Men’s event. Wilber Ji of Palo Alto finished twelfth.

This is the fourth U.S. Championships I’ve attended, including San Jose in 1996. People still talk about the inspiring performance by San Jose native, Rudy Galindo, who lit up the arena and won gold, triumphing over adversity and tragedy. Now Galindo is coaching one of the pairs teams, Cali Fujioto and Nicholas Barsi-Rhyne from Hillsborough and Los Gatos. The pair skated earlier this afternoon in the Junior Pairs Short Program, along with AnnaMarie Pearce and Craig Norris from Orinda and San Ramon.

Junior Ice Dance teams, Elliana Pogrebinsky and Ross Gudis, along with and Madeline Heritage and Nathaniel Fast skate later today. Most of the Junior final events take place Wednesday. They began Monday night with the Junior Ladies Short Program. Local skaters Polina Edmunds and Gwendolyn Prescott are currently in fourth and eighth place, leading into Wednesday night’s Free Skate. Edmunds performed a nice triple-triple and Prescott is an incredibly flexible spinner. Both train at Sharks Ice in San Jose.

Thursday evening before the Senior Ladies Short Program, local skaters of all ages from all over the Bay Area will participate in the Opening Ceremonies. As a kid, I skated in the 1985 opening ceremonies in Kansas City and remember it as one of my favorite experiences as a young skater. It’s great to support the kids by showing up early for the Ladies’ event. And the final skater to watch who now trains here is Rachel Flatt. She took home the silver medal at last year’s U.S. Championships and won gold in 2010. Now a Stanford student, Flatt trains in San Jose alongside many of the other skaters listed above. She will be competing in a tough field of impressive skaters like Alissa Czisny, Mirai Nagasu, Ashley Wagner, and Caroline Zhang.